EU trade agreements and their impacts on human rights: study commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

The European Union’s (EU) trade policy has a strong influence on economic development and the human rights situation in the EU’s partner countries, particularly in developing countries. The present study was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as a contribution to further developing appropriate methodologies for assessing human rights risks in development-related policies, an objective set in the BMZ’s 2011 strategy on human rights. The study offers guidance for stakeholders seeking to improve their knowledge of how to assess, both ex ante and ex post, the impact of Economic Partnership Agreements on poverty reduction and the right to food in ACP countries. Currently, human rights impacts are not yet systematically addressed in the trade sustainability impact assessments (trade SIAs) that the European Commission conducts when negotiating trade agreements. Nor do they focus specifically on disadvantaged groups or include other benchmarks relevant to human rights impact assessments (HRIAs). The EU itself has identified a need for action in this regard. In June 2012 it presented an Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy that calls for the inclusion of human rights in all impact assessments and in this context explicitly refers to trade agreements. Since then, the EU has begun to slightly adapt its SIA methodology and is working to define more adequate human rights–consistent procedures. It is hoped that readers of this study will find inspiration to help contribute to this process and help improve human rights consistency of future trade options.

Creating a legal framework for copyright management of open access within the Australian academic and research sector

This chapter analyses the copyright law framework needed to ensure open access to outputs of the Australian academic and research sector such as journal articles and theses. It overviews the new knowledge landscape, the principles of copyright law, the concept of open access to knowledge, the recently developed open content models of copyright licensing and the challenges faced in providing greater access to knowledge and research outputs.

Proceedings of the tropical fruits in human nutrition and health conference 2008

Horticultural industries are Queensland’s second largest primary producer, with a total gross value of more than $1.9 billion in 2008. Queensland’s diverse geography and climate supports the production of more than 120 horticultural products. With a growing worldwide demand for quality, nutritious food Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries continues to focus its activities on accelerating growth within the sector. The conference, sponsored by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and DPI&F is the first of its kind to examine the latest knowledge on the health properties of tropical fruits. Organising committee member and DPI&F science leader Dr Roger Stanley said the conference would develop international networks to accelerate research in the area.

RFID: The concept and the impact

Introduction Radio frequency identification, or RFID, has sprung into prominence in the last five years with the promise of providing a relatively low-cost means for connecting nonelectronic objects to an information network. In particular, the retail supply chain has been established as a key sector for a major deployment of RFID technology. This chapter provides a background to the technology and its position with regard to competing technologies. A range of applications is reviewed and the chapter concludes with some comments on the likely societal impact of RFID and potential barriers to deployment. The report is aimed at a nontechnical audience - namely, senior staff from a spectrum of areas including insurance, banking, telecommunications, government institutions and academia. It does not cover any technologies other than RFID, and in particular does not address technologies that may be candidates for tracking people.

Innovation, the diesel engine and vehicle markets: Evidence from OECD engine patents

This paper uses a patent data set to identify factors fostering innovation of diesel engines between 1974 and 2010 in the OECD region. The propensity of engine producers to innovate grew by 1.9 standard deviations after the expansion of the car market, by 0.7 standard deviations following a shift in the EU fuel economy standard, and by 0.23 standard deviations. The propensity to develop emissions control techniques was positively influenced by pollution control laws introduced in Japan, in the US, and in the EU, but not with the expansion of the car market. Furthermore, a decline in loan rates stimulated the propensity to develop emissions control techniques, which were simultaneously crowded out by increases in publicly-funded transport research and development. Innovation activities in engine efficiency are explained by market size, loan rates and by (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) diesel prices, inclusive of taxes. Price effects on innovation, outweigh that of the US corporate average fuel economy standards. Innovation is also positively influenced by past transport research and development. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Bridging the gap between anecdotal and empirical evidence in the international education market : insights from the US and UK

Education is an industry which has seen rapid growth in its trade over a short period of time. From the import and export of textbooks to international examinations such as the British Advanced and Ordinary levels and the American GMAT, GRE, LSAT, TOEFL and others, international trade in education has truly become a multidimensional phenomenon (Liston and Reeves, 1985). While all these aspects have largely contributed to the development of the so called “academic trade” (McMahon, 1988), it is the cross-border migration of international students which however remains the most visible aspect of this trade (Bourke, 2000). Indeed, recent estimates by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggest that nearly 1.9 million students were abroad in 2002 (OECD, 2004). There are probably thousands more foreign students involved in lower level education, language training and the like, but at the time of writing, no comprehensive statistics is yet available on international students enrolled in non-tertiary level institutions (Knight, 2002). As a result, it is vital to stress at the outset that this paper focuses exclusively on cross-border tertiary education but parallels can be drawn for lower level education.

Cooperación económica internacional y la Tercera UNCTAD = International economic cooperation and the Third UNCTAD

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